


if this is to end in fire, then we should all burn together

by delinquentprincess



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst, F/M, Gen, Kinda, M/M, Post-Book 2: Crooked Kingdom, The Slat, but also not really, just a good ol crows fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:07:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27460198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delinquentprincess/pseuds/delinquentprincess
Summary: Jesper had felt the explosions from the Van Eck estate across the city. He and Wylan were preparing for bed when the aftershock rattled the windows and shook the chandeliers, the noise booming in his ears. Jesper rushed to the window, Wylan close on his heels. Ripping back the curtains revealed Ketterdam, cloaked in darkness. The streets would almost look normal if it weren’t for the pillar of flame and smoke coming from the Barrel.“The Slat,” Jesper breathed out.Or the Slat gets set on fire and some of the Dregs are still stuck inside.
Relationships: Inej Ghafa & Matthias Helvar, Inej Ghafa & Nina Zenik, Inej Ghafa & Wylan Van Eck, Jesper Fahey & Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey & Matthias Helvar, Jesper Fahey & Nina Zenik, Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker & Jesper Fahey, Kaz Brekker & Matthias Helvar, Kaz Brekker & Nina Zenik, Kaz Brekker & Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa, Matthias Helvar & Wylan Van Eck, Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik, Wylan Van Eck & Nina Zenik
Comments: 2
Kudos: 96





	if this is to end in fire, then we should all burn together

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic for soc so hopefully its decent lol
> 
> I wrote this before I finished ck and so thats why it doesnt entirely match up with the events of that book even though I say its set afterwards.  
> Matthias is alive because I said so lol and in this I guess Nina and Matthias never leave for Ravka.
> 
> Hope you enjoy! :)

Jesper had felt the explosions from the Van Eck estate across the city. He and Wylan were preparing for bed when the aftershock rattled the windows and shook the chandeliers, the noise booming in his ears. Jesper rushed to the window, Wylan close on his heels. Ripping back the curtains revealed Ketterdam, cloaked in darkness. The streets would almost look normal if it weren’t for the pillar of flame and smoke coming from the Barrel. 

_“The Slat,”_ Jesper breathed out.

He couldn’t be one hundred percent sure from this distance. The fire could be coming from any number of buildings in the Barrel, but Jesper had a feeling. He didn’t even wait to see if Wylan was following him as he tore out the front door, pausing only briefly to touch his fingers to the handles of his revolvers to ensure they were at his hips. 

Together they ran down the streets, alleyways, and along the canals. Pushing past the tourists of West Stave, who had immerged from the brothels to catch a glimpse of what had happened. The glow of the fire in the distance illuminating the dark night sky like bleach being poured on dark clothing. Jesper could smell the thick smoke the closer they got to the harbour. 

If he thought the site of the fire from the estate was bad, he could hardly believe his eyes when he rounded the last corner. There the Slat stood in all its dark and red glory, flames and smoke billowing out of its broken windows, shingles and siding melting off. A massive hole where the front door once stood. 

The smoke was strong now, coating his lungs and face in heavy soot. Jesper heaved out a cough, tears prickling his eyes from both the smoke and the devastation. Jesper watched as members of the Dregs pulled themselves and their comrades from the burning building, collapsing on the cobblestones, gasping for air. Jesper scanned the crowd, hoping to find a glimpse of his friends unharmed. 

Wylan grabbed his arm, pointing towards a stack of crates, “Look!” he shouted above the chaos.

Per Haskell, leader of the Dregs, sat slumped on a crate, looking haggard and still drunk. Jesper and Wylan pushed their way towards him. From this distance, Jesper could now make out the scorch marks on his suit jacket and smell the whiskey on his breath. The old man’s eyes were glassy as he stared at the burning Slat. 

“Haskell,” Jesper shook him slightly, “Haskell! What the hell happened?”

Haskell’s smile was grim, not taking his eyes off of the fire, “Dime Lions,” he chuckled darkly, “Wasn’t even no warning. I was in the office; people were playing cards. A few were about to go out for a job. They locked us inside and set us ablaze. We only got out because Pim blew the door off.”

Jesper dropped his head. _How the hell did they let this happen?_ Gang on gang violence was common in the Barrel, but there was an unspoken rule on attacking bunkhouses. Killing someone when their guard is down was considered disgraceful. How could the Dime Lions just go against that?

Well, Jesper had a pretty good idea. After what Kaz did to Pekka Rollins… _Kaz._ Jesper stopped cold, turning around him, frantically looking for his friend. He couldn’t see him anywhere. Not even the tiniest glimpse of his cane. Jesper whirled back around, grabbing Haskell by the lapels on his jacket, shaking him hard.

“Haskell, where’s Kaz? Where is Kaz?” Jesper shouted.

Haskell didn’t seem too phased, even with Jesper rattling him violently, “He was in his rooms when things heated up.”

Jesper’s stomach dropped. Kaz’s rooms in the attic of the Slat, up three flights of stairs that he struggled to climb every day. The attic that was currently ablaze. Jesper felt sick, his dinner quickly making its way back up his throat, and he leaned over behind the crates to retch. He felt Wylan’s hands rubbing at his back.

_Kaz couldn’t be dead. No, bastards like him don’t just die. This can’t be happening._

Jesper righted himself again, wiping vomit from his mouth. He leaned heavily on Wylan as he moved away from Per Haskell, staring back at the Slat, tears streaming from his eyes. _This can’t be how it ends._

_“Jesper!”_

He turned towards the voice, scanning the crowds for a familiar face. He spotted Nina and Matthias running towards them. Nina’s hair flying behind her as she ran, Matthias covered head to toe in soot. 

“Nina!” Jesper let go of Wylan, meeting her halfway, colliding in a hug. She was sobbing as she clung to him, and he could feel Nina shaking as he gripped her tightly.

Jesper watched over Nina’s shoulder as Wylan walked over to meet Matthias.

“You’re both okay,” Matthias said, sounding relieved, placing a hand on Wylan’s shoulder. 

“We were at the estate,” Wylan said.

“Nina,” Jesper managed out, “Nina, where is Kaz?”

He was met with another heaving sob, and Nina pulled away from the hug just far enough to look him in the eyes. “He’s still inside. Inej ran in after him.”

_Inej was here?_ She wasn’t supposed to be in Ketterdam, she was supposed to be on a boat in the middle of the ocean. But that hardly mattered now. Jesper turned to the Slat in horror, the knowledge of both his best friends stranded inside terrifying him. He carefully let go of Nina, before he made a run at the building, fully intending to run into the fire, up the three flights of stairs and get them both out himself.

He heard both Nina and Wylan scream his name behind him, but he didn’t stop. However, he didn’t make it more than a few strides before he was tackled to the ground. The heavy mass of someone holding him down. 

“Let me go!”

“Running in there will only get yourself killed!” Matthias hissed in his ear. 

Still, Jesper clawed at the ground, desperate to get inside. Matthias managed to get them both off the ground without losing grip on Jesper, hauling his body back to Nina and Wylan. All the while, Jesper struggled against his hold. Only when Nina slapped him across his cheek did he stop.

“Stop it! We can’t lose you too!” Through her cries, Jesper realized that she was right. If Kaz and Inej were dead, then they were all the others had left. The fight left Jesper’s body, and he slumped against Matthias, breaking down in sobs. He let Wylan take him into his arms and buried his head in Wylan’s neck.

They sat there, listening to the crackling fire in silence. The creaking of the beams and the breaking of the glass. Not all the Dregs had made it out alive, that much was for sure, as those who surrounded them were only a fraction of their numbers. 

“No mourners,” Per Haskell called out from somewhere behind Jesper.

“No funerals,” They all murmured back. 

The breaking of glass continued, but this time Jesper could swear it was coming from above.

“Help! Someone please!” 

Jesper pulled away from Wylan, “Do you hear that?” His voice was rough from crying and the smoke.

“Help!” There it came again.

Suddenly, something fell at their feet. A cane with a crow’s head for the handle. _Kaz’s cane._ Immediately Jesper looked up towards the attic windows, and there was Inej, waving frantically through the broken window, framed by smoke and flame.

Jesper ran his hands through his hair, laughing in disbelief. Inej had broken the window with Kaz’s cane. _They were alive._

“Inej!” Nina called.

“Help, please!” Inej sobbed, screaming from the attic. Jesper could see she was holding something, which could only be Kaz. 

_They couldn’t get down,_ Jesper realized, _the stairs must be gone._ They may be alive now, but they wouldn’t be for long with the way the fire burned on and the roof creaked. They had to act fast. Jesper scanned the area, looking for anything to help them and spotted the heap of nets near one of the ships in the harbour. The ones they were going to use for Inej to cross the silos in the warehouse district. A lightbulb went off in Jesper’s head. 

“Matthias, Nina, Wylan, the nets!” Jesper instructed before calling up to Inej, “Inej! You need to get yourself and Kaz onto the roof!” 

She must have heard him because she was suddenly pushing Kaz’s body out the window and onto the sloped roof of the Slat. She quickly followed behind face slick with sweat, her braid coming undone. The sky behind the Slat’s roofline almost looked like a sunrise. The yellow glow of the fire looking like the sun breaking through the night sky to start a new day. It draped Kaz and Inej in an eerie silhouette. 

Jesper, Matthias, Nina, and Wylan stretched out one of the drop nets, covering a vast section of the cobblestoned street in front of the Slat. It was just underneath where Kaz and Inej were. A few other Dregs ran over to help, stretching the net taut. 

“Inej, you have to jump!” Jesper yelled.

He could see Inej muttering to herself. _Probably praying to her Saints,_ Jesper thought. He watched as she propped Kaz’s unconscious body up against her, standing them both up. She then jumped, propelling both of them off the roof and down towards the net, curving her body to protect both her and Kaz’s heads. 

As soon as they hit the net, they dropped it, rushing towards them. Inej coughed violently, gasping for breath as Jesper and Wylan dragged her away from the fire. Nina and Matthias doing the same for Kaz.

“Nina!” Inje choked out, “Nina, he’s not breathing!”

Once they were far enough away, Nina stopped and placed her hands on Kaz’s chest. She closed her eyes and concentrated, Jesper knew she was searching for Kaz’s heartbeat. She was reaching for it, urging it to become stronger. 

As soon as Jesper and Wylan stopped dragging her, Inej crawled her way over to Kaz. Her hands framed his face, and she pulled his head into her lap. Jesper watched as the feared Wraith of the Barrel openly wept, leaving tear droplets on Kaz’s sooty face. He listened as she begged her Saints to spare him. 

Jesper tore his eyes away from Inej and planted them on Kaz’s unmoving chest. Willing it to move, even though he knew his powers were useless in this situation. Nina, however, gasped with tears tracks on her face and Kaz heaved in a breath. 

He started violently coughing, struggling to sit up, but Inej was there to support him. She guided his back against her chest, holding him there as he caught his breath. Kaz shakily reached up to grasp one of her wrists.

“Inej?” His chest still heaved. Inej let out a sob, nodding her head, holding him closer. She allowed her lips to meet the scar in Kaz’s eyebrow and for once Kaz didn’t flinch away.

Another groan sounded from the fire, and they watched as the Slat’s roof caved in on itself, taking the third floor with it. He felt a sob escape his chest, and he reached blindly for Wylan. Nina cried beside him, dropping her head onto his shoulder as she gripped Matthias’ hand. 

Something about watching the Slat fall was like losing a limb. It would be a phantom pain that stayed with all of them for a long time. 

Kaz’s eyes found Jesper’s, something dangerous had settled in them.

“I want Pekka Rollins dead.” He all but growled before coughing some more.

Jesper met Matthias’ eyes, before moving on to Nina and then Wylan. This time there would be no mercy. Pekka Rollins wouldn’t just lose his empire. Pekka Rollins would lose his life. And they would make sure it was the slowest and most painful way a man could possibly die. 

He had attacked the Slat. He had attacked _their home._

No funerals indeed because once the Crows were done with Pekka Rollins, there wouldn’t even be a body left to burn.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave feedback!
> 
> ps. I know Nina's powers changed and that she wouldnt be able to restart a heart anymore but for the sake of this fic I ignored it (lol whoops)
> 
> Come chat with me on tumblr @harpermiller or twitter @jedigriffin


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